With a scream, Ava stuck the knight’s chest with her blade. Black blood oozed out of the wound, slowly making its way to ground as the knight’s hand fell to the ground. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of his blade loosened.

  Gasping for air, Ava pulled the blade out, then struck again, widening the wound on the knight’s chest. Nearly losing her balance, she let go of the sword and stumbled away from the dead knight. Her chest rose and sank quickly. Her shoulders shook visibly as she covered her eyes, trying to calm herself down.

  “Fuck,” she whispered.

  A part of him wanted to collapse, but he forced himself to get up. Rushing to Ava, he pulled her hands away from her face. “Are you wounded?”

  “Al,” Clara’s weak, frightened voice rang.

  Ava nodded.

  “Al, he’s bleeding!” Clara cried out.

  His gaze snapped to his sister. She was kneeling next to Jason. Her hands were pressed against his stomach. Blood was oozing out of her fingers.

  He looked back, towards Reuban. His broken leg was twisted oddly. Feeling sick, he turned his gaze to Ava. She had a deep cut starting on her right shoulder, ending by her elbow. The wound had been cauterized, and her skin around it was ice-cold. How she had gathered the strength to even lift her weapon was beyond him.

  “Heal Jason.” His voice grew cold as he grabbed the sword from the knight’s dead hand. Flames danced on the blade, and a trail of icy mist followed it.

  “But you’re wounded too!” Clara cried out, pointing at his back.

  “I won’t die – he will, so heal him, now!” He shouted as he cut his cloak into long strips. “Once he’s stable, stop, alright?”

  Clara flinched at his cold tone and raised voice. She nodded, then looked down at Jason. A soft, golden light seeped out from between her fingers.

  It won’t be enough. He pushed the desperate thought away. “Give me your arm.” He wrapped one of the strips he cut from his cloak around Ava’s wound tightly. It wasn’t bleeding since the blade’s fire had cauterized it, but if she moved it around too much, she could widen the wound. He used a second strip to fashion a cruse sling to hold her arm. “Don’t move your arm.”

  “Thanks…” Ava nodded. She was trembling still.

  Reuban. He turned his attention to the young man lying on the ground not too far from them. Gathering the remaining cloth, he dashed towards him. His left leg was twisted oddly by the knee, and blood was seeping to the ground.

  “I’m so sorry…” He whispered, then gritted his teeth. Please be unconscious… He placed his hands on the young man’s legs, summoned his courage, and pulled the broken leg back into place. A weak gasp escaped Reuban’s lips, his fingers clenched, but his eyes remained shut.

  “How’s Jason?” He called out to his sister.

  “I’m not done.” She hissed through gritted teeth. “I think… I need more time.” Desperation rang in her voice.

  “You have time.” He could only hope his voice sounded at least somewhat reassuring. I hope we have time. The warm rays of sunlight fully piercing the otherworldly fog was his only reassurance.

  He tightly wrapped Reuban’s leg, fixing it in place with a mostly straight branch he found. Once he was done, he stood up. His fingers were cold. Holding them up to the sun, he felt blood trickle down from his back. I need to do something about that…

  Ava was still sitting on the ground. She was still shaken up, but her gaze didn’t seem quite so lost anymore. Her rapid breathing had calmed, and she was gently caressing her wrapped wound.

  “Ava,” he grabbed the last few remaining strips of cloth and walked back towards her.

  Her gaze raised to meet his. “Yeah?” She blinked a few times. She seemed confused for only a moment before her sharp gaze returned. “Sorry. I… I think I panicked.”

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  “Yeah,” Alaric sat down. “Feeling better now?”

  She nodded. “But Reuban and Jason…”

  “They’ll live.” That’s all that matters. “I need your help. Can you handle it?”

  By the time it took Ava to wrap his wound to stop the bleeding, Clara had barely finished healing Jason. While his wound was mostly healed, he still seemed to be having trouble moving much. After filling him on everything that happed after he lost consciousness, Alaric gave them a few more minutes to rest as he whistled for the knight’s steed to come.

  Accompanied by Luna and Sol, it rushed towards Alaric.

  Both wolves had wounds on their bodies, albeit none seemed lethal. “Sorry,” he forced a smile. “I’ll make sure you two get to rest soon too, alright?” he rustled their fur, and pet them.

  The horse – if he could call it that – stood a few steps away from him.

  “Are you a Shire horse or something?” He muttered. It was at least as large as those beautiful beasts. Its muscular build and feathered legs reminded him of them. Though, unlike those gentle giants that a few farms near Bibury cared for, this one’s mane, tail and the feathered parts of its legs glimmered with silver cinders. “…maybe not.” The beast’s blue eyes followed him as he circled around it.

  Sol and Luna had been terrifying. But this… this was huge. And they had already seen it’s prowess in battle.

  “At least you still have your saddle.” He muttered as he carefully approached it. While he was well aware that because of the Mark of Command, it would never hurt him, he still couldn’t help but feel just a little frightened.

  “Can it carry them?” Ava pointed at the still unconscious Reuban and Jason.

  “I can walk.” Jason protested.

  “You can’t, shut up.” Ava snapped back at him. “Clara’s out of mana. She won’t be able to save your life again, and we need to get to camp before nightfall.” She glanced at the sky. “We have time, but still…” Despite her efforts to hide it, a hint of fear crept into her voice.

  We can’t stay out here for one more night. The thought alone sent a shiver down his spine. “This thing is bigger than a Shire Horse, and we both know what those beasts can do. I think it can carry them back to camp.”

  “Yeah.” A faint smile flashed across her face. “Definitely bigger.”

  “For sure.” Clara chuckled, then stood up. “But Ava’s right. We need to get back before nightfall.” She glanced at everyone. “I’m useless in a fight, and now I’m useless as a healer too. We… we can’t survive another fight.”

  She’s right. “Help me with Reuban then.” He glanced at the horse. “Can you kneel?”

  The horse folded its legs and kneeled.

  “That does make things easier.” Ava muttered. She got up to gather everyone’s dropped weapons as Clara and Alaric loaded Reuban on the horse’s back. Jason climbed on after the other man was relatively secured. “We’ll go at a steady pace, and it’ll follow us, so you don’t need to do anything. Just make sure you or Reuban don’t fall off.”

  With the warm rays of sunlight shining on them, giving them some much needed warmth, they set off. Sol and Luna stayed close to the group. Alaric took point, and the horse followed him just a few steps behind. Ava and Clara walked on either side of the horse, just in case Jason or Reuban fell.

  They had circled too far down south while trying to evade the gryphon. Despite walking straight north, it took hours before they saw anything even remotely familiar.

  Alaric rarely shot a glance over his shoulder, to the fog-laden structure that was once Fairford. It’s much larger than I thought. Despite having walked away from it for so long, it still seemed just as large. It’s also much farther away than I thought. A part of him questioned whether it really was Fairford.

  It had to be. They hadn’t moved – the Hallowed Ground they ran to wasn’t too far from the town, and there were signs that their surroundings had changed, not their position. Despite that, he couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t adding up.

  Ignoring the pain from the wound on his back, he hastened his steps. It was noon already. Thirst and hunger would soon set in. Clara was exhausted from the healing, and Ava’s wound was probably much worse than it looked. They needed to get back to camp as soon as possible.

  It was shortly past noon when he spotted the top of the spire they had set off from. It was far away to their left. “We’re halfway there,” he breathed out. A wave of relief washed over him, though it soon vanished. We still need to walk this much more. He stopped.

  “Let’s take a few minutes to rest.”

  They rested for a short while, taking the opportunity to check Ava and Alaric’s wounds.

  “I think I can heal a bit more.” Clara muttered, looking at the mostly grey tinted mana pool she revealed around her. “Probably a single wound.” She turned her gaze towards Reuban. “Not enough for his leg.”

  “Heal Alaric.”

  “No, Ava-“

  “Shut up.” Ava hissed. “You have the least wounds. Even if she heals my arm, she can’t do anything about my ribs, or my sprained wrist. I’m in no state fight. You can be. And if we’re attacked now…” She didn’t need to finish her sentence to get her meaning across.

  He clenched his fist. She has a point. “Fine, yeah. You’re right. Clara?”

  His sister placed her hands on his back. The warmth of her magic washed over his back. He could feel the wound slowly heal and close. It was itchy, and slightly painful. A few moments later Clara pulled away. “It should be mostly healed. Probably left a scar – I didn’t waste my mana to try and prevent that.”

  “If you have any more mana left, save it. And good thinking about the scar.” Ava stood up. “Let’s get going. Oh, and Alaric, hold onto this. It’s way better than the dull ones we got from the castle.” She summoned the Knight’s burning weapon in its sheath and handed it to him.

  “Thanks.” He clipped the sheath to his belt before helping Clara up too. “Let’s go.”